Tool Components/Parts

The manufacturing of integrated circuits free of micro-contamination drives the recent increase in demand for clean tool components (new and refurbished). Tool component manufacturers and cleaning vendors therefore highly benefit from the reliable analytical testing techniques that are critical to cleaning process monitoring and troubleshooting.

Traditional analytical techniques such as SIMS, AES, and EDX are considered acceptable for detection of inorganic and organic contamination on a 4"x4" coupon. However, these techniques cannot be relied upon to perform tests on actual parts and tool components due to:

• limitation of analytical instrument chamber size. The reduction of component size is not only costly, but it can also add contamination.
• low sensitivity in measuring contamination at levels required for 20nm technology and beyond.

ChemTrace offers solutions to the limitations of traditional analytical techniques. Our expertise in nondestructive techniques makes us the analytical lab of choice for many of the largest semiconductor tool manufacturers and integrated circuit fabs. Techniques we have developed are suitable for characterizing the cleanliness of coupons, surface finishes for new and used parts, and 200mm, 300mm, and 450mm tool components made from various materials.

Our expertise extends to correlating post-cleaned parts with wafer surface contamination after chamber processing, or after wafer contact with the cleaned surface. We establish cleaning specifications for tool parts by utilizing the Tool Specification Cycle, which is composed of cleaning the part, verifying the part’s cleanliness, processing wafers using the cleaned part, and characterizing the wafer. Wafer contamination levels after IC processing are used as the benchmark to set the cleaning specification. The Tool Specification Cycle may also be used to identify and troubleshoot problematic parts that cause low MWBC (mean wafer between clean) or wafer contamination levels that do not meet processing specification.

• No size limitation (coupons to 450mm parts)
• More representative due to large analysis surface area
• Analytical sensitivities meet 20nm technology requirement
• Results are quantitative
• Non-destructive analysis

Acidic Extraction ICP-MS/ICP-OES for Trace Metals

ELEMENTS		QUARTZ WINDOW
		Pre Clean	Post Clean
Aluminum	(Al)	58,000	63
Barium	(Ba)	820	<0.3
Calcium	(Ca)	100,000	82
Chromium	(Cr)	140	<5
Copper	(Cu)	6,400	<2
Iron	(Fe)	7,900	5.5
Lead	(Pb)	400	<0.1
Lithium	(Li)	1,400	<3
Magnesium	(Mg)	23,000	<10
Nickel	(Ni)	580	<2
Potassium	(K)	950	<10
Sodium	(Na)	2,700	20
Titanium	(Ti)	1,600	<5
Yttria	(Y)	2,600	<2
Zinc	(Zn)	1,100	21

Ultrapure Water Extraction LPC for Particle Counts

Anions and Cations by Ion Chromatography

Volatile Organics (C7 - C30) by ATD GC-MS

Response Time (min)	OUTGASSING COMPOUNDS	Concentration (ng)
8.26	Hexylene Glycol	280
9.42	Phenol	7.4
10.33	1 - Hexanol, 2-ethyl-	10
11.69	Nonanal	4.7
12.51	Cyclopentasiloxane, decamethyl	5.1
12.67	Benzoic Acid	25
13.27	Hydrocarbon	4.2
14.05	Propanol, phenoxy	590
14.22		17
14.41	Alkyl subsituted benzene	6.7
14.79	Hydrocarbon	4.1
15.16	Cyclohexasiloxane, dodecamethyl-	4.7
15.22	Napthalene compound	7.5
15.33	Hydrocarbons	4.2
15.49		6.2
15.56		7.1
15.74	Dimetridazole	26
16.0 - 37.5(broad peak)	Mixture of branched hydrocarbons	77,000

Cutting Fluid Analysis by GC-MS

R.T. (min)	Tentatively Assigned Compounds	% of Total Area Response
7.06	Hexylene glycol	2.9%
10.45	Propanol, phenoxy-	2.2%
17.21	Mixture of hydrocarbons (major)	95%

• High levels of organic impurities on coupon detected by ATD GC-MS
• Residual organic impurities from cutting fluid were not efficiently removed during cleaning process